Staff Software Development Engineer

Role Description

As Staff Software Development Engineer, you'll be the Linux kernel authority for the runtime enforcement layer of our Identity Security Platform. These components decide, in-kernel, whether to permit or deny each action an identity or AI agent attempts on a Linux endpoint.

You'll set the technical direction for eBPF enforcement on Linux and own it end to end. That means hooks that make the right call in real time, across the fleet, without breaking legitimate workloads. Peer engineers own the macOS and Windows enforcement surfaces. You share one policy language, one event schema, and one userspace agent with them, but Linux kernel-space is yours.

You know this layer better than anyone. You want your code to be the thing that stops a compromised credential or a runaway AI coding agent before it impacts production.

What You’ll Do

• Design, build, and own our eBPF programs and BPF LSM hooks (bprm_check_security, file_open, socket_connect).
• Enforce policy synchronously in the kernel by returning -EPERM to block, rather than logging after the fact.
• Build the userspace agent that loads and drives them.
• Own the kernel/userspace enforcement boundary: kernel-side event capture over ring buffers, policy evaluation in userspace, and deny decisions pushed back into the kernel as hash-keyed caches.
• Drive down enforce-mode latency on the syscall hot path as we scale across large fleets.
• Extend enforcement into containers and namespaces: cgroup- and namespace-aware policy, container identity on kernel events, Kubernetes workloads.
• Harden portability across kernel versions and distributions.
• Partner with the macOS and Windows enforcement engineers and the policy-backend team on the shared plane.
• Read requirements to find gaps and risks, propose simplifications, and explain tradeoffs to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Raise the engineering bar by taking end-to-end ownership from design through production.
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers on Linux systems and eBPF craft.

Qualifications

• Deep Linux kernel internals - scheduling, memory management, the networking stack, syscalls, the LSM framework.
• Production systems programming in C, Rust, or both.
• Hands-on eBPF for security enforcement, with real comfort at the verifier level.
• Experience with BTF and CO-RE, plus the practical realities of portability.
• Knowledge of container runtime internals - namespaces, cgroups, seccomp.
• Kernel debugging and performance tooling: perf, ftrace, bpftrace, gdb/kgdb, crash-dump analysis.
• 8+ years in systems-level software engineering, with real depth in Linux kernel development and eBPF.
• Demonstrated AI-first development experience.
• A working grasp of systems design patterns and their tradeoffs at the kernel/userspace boundary.
• Full-lifecycle experience, including product release, in an agile environment.
• A track record of technical leadership on complex, ambiguous initiatives that span teams.

Requirements

• Ability to share successes and failures openly and work well with people.
• Adaptability to shifting situations and requirements.
• Proactive in fixing issues before they are assigned.
• Persistence through roadblocks, pulling in others when needed.
• High standards for shipping reliable systems, especially where kernel bugs carry outsized risk.
• Familiarity with best practices in systems software, including rigorous testing and peer review.
• Ability to balance speed against risk, using data to inform decisions.
• Awareness of the weight of enforcement code and the importance of correctness.

Benefits

• Inclusive and diverse work environment.
• Supportive culture that values employee well-being.